http://laryngospasms.com/spasmnewsletters.cfm Fri, 13 May 2011 16:49:45 GMT http://bandzoogle.com http://laryngospasms.com/spasmnewsletters.cfm?feature=888592&postid=968113 We had our first international gig Tuesday, May 10, in Regina, Saskatchewan, performing for the Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada. What a blast we had up there! We sang for 850 nurses Tuesday and had a great time. Those ladies in Canada sure know how to party; they were all dressed up in costumes and were dancing in the aisles. We had a lot of fun changing the lyrics of "Scopin' USA" to "Scopin' Canada". Thanks again to Karen Frenette and everyone else from ORNAC for the opportunity. It's a big day today for The Spasms, May 13th. We are performing in Minneapolis with our new musical partners, Bella Diva. They are a top notch show band and together we are creating a whole new show for The Laryngospasms, live music, backup singers, the whole nine yards. It will take us a while to get the production put together; right now we are aiming at a debut of the act next Spring, perhaps in March.  The album is progressing nicely. We've already posted "Ring of Fire" for download on our website, and we will soon follow with several other tunes. Well, I'm off to rehearsal for our show. Thanks to everyone who writes to us and comes to our shows. We couldn't do this without your support.  for the Spasms, Gary Cozine
It's a big day today for The Spasms, May 13th. We are performing in Minneapolis with our new musical partners, Bella Diva. They are a top notch show band and together we are creating a whole new show for The Laryngospasms, live music, backup singers, the whole nine yards. It will take us a while to get the production put together; right now we are aiming at a debut of the act next Spring, perhaps in March. 

The album is progressing nicely. We've already posted "Ring of Fire" for download on our website, and we will soon follow with several other tunes.

Well, I'm off to rehearsal for our show. Thanks to everyone who writes to us and comes to our shows. We couldn't do this without your support. 

for the Spasms,

Gary Cozine


]]> Fri, 13 May 2011 16:49:45 GMT F9E2C872A1483213CBD178FB57A8314C http://laryngospasms.com/spasmnewsletters.cfm?feature=888592&postid=880286 The Spasms are having a super busy Spring. We have been in the studio recording songs for our third album, "Ring of Fire". Our video of the same name, featuring Doug as the Man in Black, is in final edit and should be posted on YouTube soon. We have several performances upcoming, in Washington, DC and Regina, Saskatchewan. And we have our first show open to the public in Minneapolis, May 13th. All exciting stuff! If this show is a success, we want to continue booking shows that everyone can attend. We've got our fingers crossed.  Presently we are looking at future shows in Omaha, Sioux Falls, Milwaukee, Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. As we schedule concerts, we will be sure to post dates on our website. As always, we want to thank you for supporting our group. Without our fans, we wouldn't have any reason to be doing this. Take care and 'spasm on...
Presently we are looking at future shows in Omaha, Sioux Falls, Milwaukee, Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. As we schedule concerts, we will be sure to post dates on our website.

As always, we want to thank you for supporting our group. Without our fans, we wouldn't have any reason to be doing this. Take care and 'spasm on...


]]> Sun, 03 Apr 2011 22:15:00 GMT 1484ECC8223A71A3D44985BA658D265E http://laryngospasms.com/spasmnewsletters.cfm?feature=888592&postid=752745 &nbsp; &nbsp;Hi everybody! There is a lot of news to report from the Spasms, starting with our new and improved web address. You can still reach us at www.laryngospasms.com, but now we also have the address, www.thespasms.com. Hopefully that will avoid some of the looks we get when we try to spell out our website. Heck, I would even misspell it on occasion. Our video shoot went very well. The vid is currently being edited and we expect to see the finished version any day. As soon as we get it, we will post a clip on our website. We always knew it, but Doug is very photogenic--just wait until you see him as &quot;The Man In Black&quot;. Apologies, of course, to Johnny Cash. We were interviewed this past weekend for a radio show, Nurse Talk. The show is streaming live on am radio in the Boston and San Francisco markets this coming weekend. And you can find the interview at their website. We've got links and times posted on our website, should you care to check it out. Our album, which we have decided to title, &quot;Ring of Fire&quot; is well under way. We have ten tunes written and in various stages of completion. Still looking at a Spring or early Summer release date. And we have two shows coming up. Unfortunately, both of them are private events. The guys in the band have decided, though, that we are going to try our hand at putting on our own public shows. We are aiming our first attempt at this coming fall, late September, in Chicago. With that in mind, if you have any suggestions for possible venues for a show in the northern Chicago area, please shoot us an email so we can check it out.&nbsp; That's about it for now. Thanks again for your support. As I write this, we have had a snowy winter here in Connecticut, so much so, we have roofs collapsing everywhere. Hopefully your winter has been better. Take care, Gary Cozine for The Spasms &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://laryngospasms.com/home.cfm" style="color: rgb(239, 95, 0); text-decoration: underline; ">www.thespasms.com&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://laryngospasms.com/contactus.cfm" style="color: rgb(239, 95, 0); text-decoration: underline; ">&nbsp;www.laryngospasms.co

Hi everybody! There is a lot of news to report from the Spasms, starting with our new and improved web address. You can still reach us at www.laryngospasms.com, but now we also have the address, www.thespasms.com. Hopefully that will avoid some of the looks we get when we try to spell out our website. Heck, I would even misspell it on occasion. Our video shoot went very well. The vid is currently being edited and we expect to see the finished version any day. As soon as we get it, we will post a clip on our website. We always knew it, but Doug is very photogenic--just wait until you see him as "The Man In Black". Apologies, of course, to Johnny Cash. We were interviewed this past weekend for a radio show, Nurse Talk. The show is streaming live on am radio in the Boston and San Francisco markets this coming weekend. And you can find the interview at their website. We've got links and times posted on our website, should you care to check it out. Our album, which we have decided to title, "Ring of Fire" is well under way. We have ten tunes written and in various stages of completion. Still looking at a Spring or early Summer release date. And we have two shows coming up. Unfortunately, both of them are private events. The guys in the band have decided, though, that we are going to try our hand at putting on our own public shows. We are aiming our first attempt at this coming fall, late September, in Chicago. With that in mind, if you have any suggestions for possible venues for a show in the northern Chicago area, please shoot us an email so we can check it out.  That's about it for now. Thanks again for your support. As I write this, we have had a snowy winter here in Connecticut, so much so, we have roofs collapsing everywhere. Hopefully your winter has been better. Take care, Gary Cozine for The Spasms         www.thespasms.com          www.laryngospasms.co

]]> Wed, 09 Feb 2011 03:27:02 GMT 522181EA1340204E7C7BCA1E1F16EB10 http://laryngospasms.com/spasmnewsletters.cfm?feature=888592&postid=715573 Hi Everyone! &nbsp;&nbsp; Just wanted to drop a quick line to let you know that last weekend, we shot the video to the title track of our up-coming third album, Ring of Fire. We had a ton of fun shooting the video, and can't wait to see what Dave &amp; Bill do with it. Thanks to everyone who participated. A special thanks goes to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, MN, for their unyielding support of our hijinks! The video is planned to be released in conjunction with the release of our third album, expected later this Spring. A few photos of the video shoot can be found <a href="./pics.cfm">here. We continue to work on our third album, and are anticipating a couple of performances coming up this Spring, including the group's first international performance (in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada). Hope you all are keeping warm - my car read -23F this morning at 8:00! Brrr.....! Until Next Time, Rich Leyh for The Laryngospasms
   Just wanted to drop a quick line to let you know that last weekend, we shot the video to the title track of our up-coming third album, Ring of Fire. We had a ton of fun shooting the video, and can't wait to see what Dave & Bill do with it. Thanks to everyone who participated. A special thanks goes to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, MN, for their unyielding support of our hijinks! The video is planned to be released in conjunction with the release of our third album, expected later this Spring. A few photos of the video shoot can be found here. We continue to work on our third album, and are anticipating a couple of performances coming up this Spring, including the group's first international performance (in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada). Hope you all are keeping warm - my car read -23F this morning at 8:00! Brrr.....!

Until Next Time,

Rich Leyh for The Laryngospasms
]]> Sat, 22 Jan 2011 09:38:28 GMT 1CEEF6ECAFA52357F8E9AA55E32E08B7 http://laryngospasms.com/spasmnewsletters.cfm?feature=888592&postid=685328 Many of our sharp eyed fans have noticed that our videos feature five Spasms, while our most recent photos (and our next video) feature four of us. We have fielded a fair number of questions about this fifth Laryngospasm, who he is and whatever happened to him. So, I will endeavor to set the record straight. The fifth Spasm was Dave Kimball. The rest of us really miss Dave; besides his voice, he was always the zaniest of us on stage. And given the nature of the stuff we sing, that was a good thing. Unfortunately, when the rest of us decided to give America's Got Talent a go, David decided he just couldn't commit to the kind of rehearsal time required to prepared for that audition. Our loss. And like I said, we miss him. Dave has two young sons, and he coaches both of their baseball and hockey teams, and he felt he had to choose between devoting the time to his sons or to the Spasms. I think he made the right choice. Never say never, so who knows? Perhaps one day he will rejoin us, should we still be doing this gig down the road. Gary
The fifth Spasm was Dave Kimball. The rest of us really miss Dave; besides his voice, he was always the zaniest of us on stage. And given the nature of the stuff we sing, that was a good thing. Unfortunately, when the rest of us decided to give America's Got Talent a go, David decided he just couldn't commit to the kind of rehearsal time required to prepared for that audition. Our loss. And like I said, we miss him.

Dave has two young sons, and he coaches both of their baseball and hockey teams, and he felt he had to choose between devoting the time to his sons or to the Spasms. I think he made the right choice. Never say never, so who knows? Perhaps one day he will rejoin us, should we still be doing this gig down the road.

Gary
]]> Fri, 07 Jan 2011 23:58:57 GMT 93115B60B61594B27E0667B97C85F176 http://laryngospasms.com/spasmnewsletters.cfm?feature=888592&postid=673350 From the four of us, The Laryngospasms want to wish our fans everywhere a healthy happy New Year. This past year, we received thousands of emails, and we were touched by how many of you take the time to write. We hear from a lot of health care workers, for sure, and we want to acknowledge how hard all of you work for your patients, whether Nurse or Tech or MD. You're doing great work out there. We also hear from the recipients of that care and hear their stories, sometimes about their fears, but more often about how they manage to laugh in the face of tough times. And I guess that's what The Spasms hope to do, help both sides of the health care equation, caregivers and patients, &nbsp;laugh just a little. Because we all know we can never laugh too much.&nbsp; The Spasms have a lot to look forward to for 2011. We have two songs recorded for an album we anticipate releasing in May. In a couple of weeks, we are recording a music video we will be releasing alongside the album. We have our first international performance to look forward to, in Canada, also in May. And who knows what else is in store. We are also looking into promoting a concert or two to see if there's enough interest to make them worthwhile. All of our past shows have been appearances by invitation, to appear for a ready made audience. We have gotten a fair number of requests to perform for an open audience. So, we were thinking that the weekend of Sept. 30/Oct. 1, in Chicago, would be a perfect &nbsp;place to try out the concept.. &nbsp;So tell us what you think. Would you like to see the Spasms in concert, in Chicago? Anyway, from the four of us, we wish you all the best for the coming year. May 2011 be a great year for you! Gary, Doug, Keith and Rich
The Spasms have a lot to look forward to for 2011. We have two songs recorded for an album we anticipate releasing in May. In a couple of weeks, we are recording a music video we will be releasing alongside the album. We have our first international performance to look forward to, in Canada, also in May. And who knows what else is in store.

We are also looking into promoting a concert or two to see if there's enough interest to make them worthwhile. All of our past shows have been appearances by invitation, to appear for a ready made audience. We have gotten a fair number of requests to perform for an open audience. So, we were thinking that the weekend of Sept. 30/Oct. 1, in Chicago, would be a perfect  place to try out the concept..  So tell us what you think. Would you like to see the Spasms in concert, in Chicago?

Anyway, from the four of us, we wish you all the best for the coming year. May 2011 be a great year for you!

Gary, Doug, Keith and Rich
]]> Sun, 02 Jan 2011 10:15:00 GMT FCD036A5589BF23BE09A93225CF4D671 http://laryngospasms.com/spasmnewsletters.cfm?feature=888592&postid=445543 &nbsp;Hi Everyone! First and foremost, we would like to apologize for the long delay since our last update. Also, we'd like to thank you so much for your patience and continued support. A lot has happened for us this year - read on! As most of you know, we auditioned for America's Got Talent last October (has it already been almost a year?!?!). Unfortunately, prior to our audition, we had made our intentions know to the public. Well, when we arrived in Chicago, one of the first things on their agenda was their strict confidentiality policy. We were allowed only to say that we auditioned - nothing more. To ensure this rule was observed, there was a small phonebook's worth of paperwork to be signed. So from that day forward, we haven't been able to share our experiences with anyone. During our first visit to Chicago, there were two rounds of auditions: first, an audition en masse with three other acts in front of 3 producers. Most people stopped here. We passed that audition and were advanced to audition with seven executive producers. This audition was done alone, a little history of the group was shared, and was taped. It seemed as though we were well-received, though we wouldn't know the results until the following February or March. Those who pass this second audition travel to Chicago again to perform in front of the celebrity judges and a live audience while the performance is taped for television. This five months of uncertainty was painful, as you can imagine. Besides keeping it under wraps at work (no easy task - we got daily inquiries for MONTHS!), we had a regular barrage of email inquiries as well. While we longed to satiate the curiosity of everyone, we also didn't wish to jeopardize our place in the competition. So we said nothing. Interestingly, as the time and uncertainty dragged on, little things that happened at the audition would be subject to interpretation and assigned increasingly profound significance (&quot;Did he say, 'That wasn't bad', or 'That wasn't bad'?). It played with our heads a bit. So, we threw ourselves into becoming the best we could be. We began weekly dance lessons (which proved invaluable - thanks Deb!), individual vocal lessons, and even consulted a choir director. We were uncertain of the song we would be performing, as NBC requires permission from the original songwriter prior to airing a performance of a parody. So for a very long time, we didn't have a song to focus on - we simply practiced &amp; practiced. We did have a couple of shows late last year, and we used these as rehearsals for what we hoped would be an appearance on AGT. Finally, in March, while they wouldn't confirm we had made it to the next round, we were asked to submit as many songs as possible, so that IF we were selected, we would have a song to perform. The hope was that one of the songwriters would consent to the airing of a performance of their song as a parody. Thus, we had very little control (actually none!) over what song we would perform, should we be selected. Meanwhile, we performed 3 shows while we were waiting to hear if we would advance to Chicago. Well, when it finally came out that we had made it and would be going to Chicago, we had less than 3 weeks notice. Yikes! This was an extremely short window of time for us. Additionally, we now had to come up with choreography for The Little Old Lady With Her Fractured Femur. Not a bad song, but I don't think it would have been the first choice for any of us. Also, we had to truncate the song to be less than 90 seconds, which meant getting a new instrumental track, which had to be turned in prior to our arrival in Chicago. It was a busy time, and we did little else but sleep, work, and rehearse. So off to Chicago we went. I believe we're still limited in what we can share of the details of our experience, but suffice it to say that it was a marathon of a day. It began at 8:00 AM and there were to be two tapings that day, at 1:00 and 7:00. We were scheduled for the 1:00 taping, but at 5:00, we were backstage &amp; ready to go on (mikes in hand!), but the 5:00 whistle blew, ending the first taping, and we got bumped to the second taping. Finally, at about 7:45pm, we went on stage. There were roughly 2,000 people in the audience, largely recruited, we suspect, from passers-by on the street, and perhaps a bit of local advertising. Gary did a masterful job at answering Howie's questions, and offering a brief description of our group. He represented nurse anesthetists very well, and our home office would be very proud. When we got the green light, there was a considerable delay before the music started, but that was no big deal. We got off to a great start, and all was going well. Then Sharon Osbourne buzzed us. Well, the buzzer is not as it appears on television - it is deafening and literally shakes the stage. Well, when she buzzed us, it skipped our soundtrack, so we were out of sequence with the music. Piers and Howie followed not too long thereafter, and we came to stand in the middle of the stage and receive our feedback. I'd love to hear Sharon's comments again, because I didn't catch it all while we were standing there, but I know she made reference to her breasts at one point. Piers and Howie offered their comments, which most of us felt that, while arguable, were actually pretty fair and reasonable. We have been aware for some time that there is a small percentage of people who find it disturbing that someone in our profession would make light of such serious work, and we suspect that Sharon is one of these folks, as she has had several operations herself, some apparently rather recently. Regardless, the road to fame and fortune ended for us that night. We walked back to the hotel, met up with our families and, for the next 3 hours or so, just unwound and visited. We were all very tired, yet strangely relieved that it was over. And it wasn't a complete loss - our group was told at the beginning of the day that 99.5% of all acts that auditioned didn't make it back for a performance for the celebrity judges. That helped to take a bit of the sting out of it for us. The next morning at breakfast, as we continued to talk about this &amp; that, it came up that perhaps we could still do a show in Orlando that we had postponed due to AGT. So then &amp; there, from the hotel restaurant, we called and were able to re-book the Orlando show. And so it was that we got back on our horse and did the show in Orlando two weeks after our experience with AGT. We traditionally take the summers off from the Spasms, as we're usually occupied with family activities, and this summer was no different. We all were ready for a break. Still, we couldn't say anything about our experience in Chicago, as the show hadn't aired yet. I think we were all a bit ambivalent about whether or not we wanted our performance aired. On the one hand, it would be interesting to see how they present it, yet, on the other, we would be spared from showcasing our botched audition to the entire country. In the end, we weren't aired, and I think we've all come to be grateful for this. And so it is that so much time has elapsed since our last update. Just last week, our You Tube video &quot;Waking Up Is Hard To Do&quot; turned over 5 million hits. Most of these hits are since last August, when we were featured on CNN. We were also featured briefly on CBS Saturday Morning earlier this year. Also, our local paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, did a really nice article on us this past Spring, as we got ready for our AGT audition. Unfortunately, the Star-Tribune erroneously represented that it was a public event, and we later learned that the host organization turned away over 100 people from the front door downstairs. We felt awful when we learned of this, and were disappointed that the situation was handled so poorly. So if you were affected by this, please accept our sincerest apologies. Well, fall is here, and the kids are back in school. We've all had a great summer and hope you have as well. We continue to work on various projects, chief among them a third album (with Ring of Fire - gotta get that song on an album!). We also want to do a children's pre-operative teaching video that could be used by hospitals and surgery centers to help children prepare for surgery. And now that summer is behind us and we are turning our attention to a third album, we WILL be selecting a song from the hundreds of entries we have received for our song-writing contest - thank you all for your clever ideas! As always, thank you so much for your interest &amp; support of our group. We look forward to more regular updates in the future, and hope that you'll continue to join us for whatever may lie ahead for the Spasms! Yours In Good Fun, The Laryngospasms
First and foremost, we would like to apologize for the long delay since our last update. Also, we'd like to thank you so much for your patience and continued support. A lot has happened for us this year - read on!

As most of you know, we auditioned for America's Got Talent last October (has it already been almost a year?!?!). Unfortunately, prior to our audition, we had made our intentions know to the public. Well, when we arrived in Chicago, one of the first things on their agenda was their strict confidentiality policy. We were allowed only to say that we auditioned - nothing more. To ensure this rule was observed, there was a small phonebook's worth of paperwork to be signed. So from that day forward, we haven't been able to share our experiences with anyone.

During our first visit to Chicago, there were two rounds of auditions: first, an audition en masse with three other acts in front of 3 producers. Most people stopped here. We passed that audition and were advanced to audition with seven executive producers. This audition was done alone, a little history of the group was shared, and was taped. It seemed as though we were well-received, though we wouldn't know the results until the following February or March. Those who pass this second audition travel to Chicago again to perform in front of the celebrity judges and a live audience while the performance is taped for television.

This five months of uncertainty was painful, as you can imagine. Besides keeping it under wraps at work (no easy task - we got daily inquiries for MONTHS!), we had a regular barrage of email inquiries as well. While we longed to satiate the curiosity of everyone, we also didn't wish to jeopardize our place in the competition. So we said nothing. Interestingly, as the time and uncertainty dragged on, little things that happened at the audition would be subject to interpretation and assigned increasingly profound significance ("Did he say, 'That wasn't bad', or 'That wasn't bad'?). It played with our heads a bit.

So, we threw ourselves into becoming the best we could be. We began weekly dance lessons (which proved invaluable - thanks Deb!), individual vocal lessons, and even consulted a choir director. We were uncertain of the song we would be performing, as NBC requires permission from the original songwriter prior to airing a performance of a parody. So for a very long time, we didn't have a song to focus on - we simply practiced & practiced. We did have a couple of shows late last year, and we used these as rehearsals for what we hoped would be an appearance on AGT.

Finally, in March, while they wouldn't confirm we had made it to the next round, we were asked to submit as many songs as possible, so that IF we were selected, we would have a song to perform. The hope was that one of the songwriters would consent to the airing of a performance of their song as a parody. Thus, we had very little control (actually none!) over what song we would perform, should we be selected. Meanwhile, we performed 3 shows while we were waiting to hear if we would advance to Chicago.

Well, when it finally came out that we had made it and would be going to Chicago, we had less than 3 weeks notice. Yikes! This was an extremely short window of time for us. Additionally, we now had to come up with choreography for The Little Old Lady With Her Fractured Femur. Not a bad song, but I don't think it would have been the first choice for any of us. Also, we had to truncate the song to be less than 90 seconds, which meant getting a new instrumental track, which had to be turned in prior to our arrival in Chicago. It was a busy time, and we did little else but sleep, work, and rehearse.

So off to Chicago we went. I believe we're still limited in what we can share of the details of our experience, but suffice it to say that it was a marathon of a day. It began at 8:00 AM and there were to be two tapings that day, at 1:00 and 7:00. We were scheduled for the 1:00 taping, but at 5:00, we were backstage & ready to go on (mikes in hand!), but the 5:00 whistle blew, ending the first taping, and we got bumped to the second taping.

Finally, at about 7:45pm, we went on stage. There were roughly 2,000 people in the audience, largely recruited, we suspect, from passers-by on the street, and perhaps a bit of local advertising. Gary did a masterful job at answering Howie's questions, and offering a brief description of our group. He represented nurse anesthetists very well, and our home office would be very proud.

When we got the green light, there was a considerable delay before the music started, but that was no big deal. We got off to a great start, and all was going well. Then Sharon Osbourne buzzed us. Well, the buzzer is not as it appears on television - it is deafening and literally shakes the stage. Well, when she buzzed us, it skipped our soundtrack, so we were out of sequence with the music. Piers and Howie followed not too long thereafter, and we came to stand in the middle of the stage and receive our feedback.

I'd love to hear Sharon's comments again, because I didn't catch it all while we were standing there, but I know she made reference to her breasts at one point. Piers and Howie offered their comments, which most of us felt that, while arguable, were actually pretty fair and reasonable. We have been aware for some time that there is a small percentage of people who find it disturbing that someone in our profession would make light of such serious work, and we suspect that Sharon is one of these folks, as she has had several operations herself, some apparently rather recently. Regardless, the road to fame and fortune ended for us that night. We walked back to the hotel, met up with our families and, for the next 3 hours or so, just unwound and visited. We were all very tired, yet strangely relieved that it was over. And it wasn't a complete loss - our group was told at the beginning of the day that 99.5% of all acts that auditioned didn't make it back for a performance for the celebrity judges. That helped to take a bit of the sting out of it for us.

The next morning at breakfast, as we continued to talk about this & that, it came up that perhaps we could still do a show in Orlando that we had postponed due to AGT. So then & there, from the hotel restaurant, we called and were able to re-book the Orlando show. And so it was that we got back on our horse and did the show in Orlando two weeks after our experience with AGT.

We traditionally take the summers off from the Spasms, as we're usually occupied with family activities, and this summer was no different. We all were ready for a break. Still, we couldn't say anything about our experience in Chicago, as the show hadn't aired yet. I think we were all a bit ambivalent about whether or not we wanted our performance aired. On the one hand, it would be interesting to see how they present it, yet, on the other, we would be spared from showcasing our botched audition to the entire country. In the end, we weren't aired, and I think we've all come to be grateful for this.

And so it is that so much time has elapsed since our last update. Just last week, our You Tube video "Waking Up Is Hard To Do" turned over 5 million hits. Most of these hits are since last August, when we were featured on CNN. We were also featured briefly on CBS Saturday Morning earlier this year. Also, our local paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, did a really nice article on us this past Spring, as we got ready for our AGT audition. Unfortunately, the Star-Tribune erroneously represented that it was a public event, and we later learned that the host organization turned away over 100 people from the front door downstairs. We felt awful when we learned of this, and were disappointed that the situation was handled so poorly. So if you were affected by this, please accept our sincerest apologies.

Well, fall is here, and the kids are back in school. We've all had a great summer and hope you have as well. We continue to work on various projects, chief among them a third album (with Ring of Fire - gotta get that song on an album!). We also want to do a children's pre-operative teaching video that could be used by hospitals and surgery centers to help children prepare for surgery. And now that summer is behind us and we are turning our attention to a third album, we WILL be selecting a song from the hundreds of entries we have received for our song-writing contest - thank you all for your clever ideas!

As always, thank you so much for your interest & support of our group. We look forward to more regular updates in the future, and hope that you'll continue to join us for whatever may lie ahead for the Spasms!

Yours In Good Fun,

The Laryngospasms
]]> Wed, 15 Sep 2010 07:45:22 GMT 9F8A93830C25236F7DA547DCD3B9006A http://laryngospasms.com/spasmnewsletters.cfm?feature=888592&postid=68111 Help! We've been enjoying a phenomenal surge in hits for the last week or so, but can't seem to find where they're coming from! If you can help us out by sharing how you heard about us, it would sure help us to know who to thank for the good fortune! Thanks! ]]> Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:28:44 GMT A8C6163B5EB6B99B75346ADF8B006FE1 http://laryngospasms.com/spasmnewsletters.cfm?feature=888592&postid=68076 &nbsp;&nbsp; Well, 2008 was certainly a busy year for the Spasms. In March, we performed for the Association of peri-Operative Nurses' Congress at the Anaheim Convention Center.&nbsp; Then, in August, we performed for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists' annual meeting&nbsp; here in our home town of Minneapolis, MN. In October, we traveled to San Francisco to perform for the American College of Surgeons Past President's dinner and were treated to a free air show! This past April, we performed for the Arthroscopist's Association of North America in San Diego &amp; had a great time. Finally, we just performed for the Minnesota Hospital Association in Alexandria, MN in June. Since then, we've all taken time for a little R &amp; R and have been enjoying the remains of our summer here in Minnesota. &nbsp;&nbsp; We had a conference call meeting a couple of days ago and made some decisions about the coming year and our goals for the group. Perhaps of most interest to everyone is that the decision was made to move forward with the group's thrid album. It was felt that we have a number of songs that are performed regularly, yet not recorded, and that these should probably be recorded for the benefit of those unable to see us perform at a live event. Though a timeline has yet to be established, it is expected that we'll have our studio begin recording the instrumental tracks to several of our songs in the coming month or so. &nbsp;&nbsp; We meet for our first official Fall rehersal on September 7th, and Gary tells me we may be visited by a local television station. That'd be fun! &nbsp;&nbsp; This website is actually part of what came out of our conference call a couple of days ago. This site adds many useful features, including forums to facilitate discussion, membership to our &quot;E-Team&quot;, so those who are interested can receive early notification of product releases, offer feedback on yet-to-be released music, and receive discounts on our products, the ability to purchase our music as MP3s, and to be able to purchase individual songs, and much, much more! We hope you enjoy the changes we've made. We appreciate your interest in our group and look forward to the exciting things that await us in the coming months. We hope you'll stop by occasionally and join us for the ride! Until Then, Rich Since then, we've all taken time for a little R & R and have been enjoying the remains of our summer here in Minnesota.
   We had a conference call meeting a couple of days ago and made some decisions about the coming year and our goals for the group. Perhaps of most interest to everyone is that the decision was made to move forward with the group's thrid album. It was felt that we have a number of songs that are performed regularly, yet not recorded, and that these should probably be recorded for the benefit of those unable to see us perform at a live event. Though a timeline has yet to be established, it is expected that we'll have our studio begin recording the instrumental tracks to several of our songs in the coming month or so.
   We meet for our first official Fall rehersal on September 7th, and Gary tells me we may be visited by a local television station. That'd be fun!
   This website is actually part of what came out of our conference call a couple of days ago. This site adds many useful features, including forums to facilitate discussion, membership to our "E-Team", so those who are interested can receive early notification of product releases, offer feedback on yet-to-be released music, and receive discounts on our products, the ability to purchase our music as MP3s, and to be able to purchase individual songs, and much, much more! We hope you enjoy the changes we've made. We appreciate your interest in our group and look forward to the exciting things that await us in the coming months. We hope you'll stop by occasionally and join us for the ride!

Until Then,

Rich
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